French Soldier Stabbed in the Throat Outside Paris

French Soldier Stabbed in the Throat While on Patrol Outside Paris

A police investigator works at the site where a man armed with a box cutter attacked a French soldier patrolling a subway station

Photo by FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP/Getty Images

A French soldier was stabbed by a robed assailant while he was on an antiterrorism patrol in a busy commercial district on the western outskirts of Paris. The 23-year-old soldier lost a lot of blood but he was quickly taken to the hospital and his wounds are not life-threatening. Still, the attack “sent a shudder through the French capital” considering it comes mere days after the brutal killing of a soldier in London, points out the Washington Post.

The attacker in France was wearing a Muslim prayer cap and a robe called a jellabah common in North Africa. Security cameras reveal the attacker shed his robe after the attack and disappeared into a crowd. The soldier was patrolling in uniform with two other men and was stabbed either with a knife or a box-cutter, notes Reuters. "We still don't know the exact circumstances of the attack or the identity of the attacker, but we are exploring all options," President Francois Hollande told journalists.

Daniel Politi has been contributing to Slate since 2004 and wrote the "Today's Papers" column from 2006 to 2009. You can follow him on Twitter @dpoliti.